What Is A Good Sound Card To Use With Mixxx

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Broadcast live to your online radio station using the best audio streaming software built by and for radio professionals.

Jan 06, 2016 As with any new piece of gear or program, there’s a learning curve to become good at using it, but Mixxx has almost everything that a digital DJ regularly uses. The software has been built up the point where if all you need is a dead-simple piece of DJ software without any of the frills, this is the best and cheapest bet.

As a radio broadcaster you need the best audio streaming software to effectively manage your station. However it can be tough to find the right all-in-one solution to manage your music, build curated playlists, and broadcast live radio shows without any technical headaches!

That’s why we have put together the top 10 best audio streaming software solutions worth checking out. Plus at the end have your say! Which one you do you think shines brighter then the rest? Vote for the essential tool radio broadcasters should use.

Regardless of which one you choose your listeners need to be able to tune into your shows online. Radio.co is the best all-in-one solution for today’s broadcaster. Get on-air in minutes by live broadcasting to your station using any of the audio streaming software mentioned here. Try Radio.co now by starting your 7 day free trial.

Alternatively if you have a couple of questions about how to get started or you just need a helping hand then chat with one of our radio expert today by booking a demo.

BONUS. Radio.co Broadcaster - Simple Solution

Our new Windows desktop software lets you and your DJs broadcast live from your computer or laptop. It’s easy to set up and you can play music on any application such as Spotify or iTunes. You can even hoot up a USB microphone to talk over the music.

10. Winamp - The Old Familiar

Kicking off this list is the well-known Winamp. It's an old familiar having been around for 20 years, but don’t let its age fool you! To this day you can still get it for free and it comes with everything you need to manage your music and radio shows - For example, curate your tracks into custom playlists and add plug-ins for additional features, plus it runs quite smoothly in comparison to other media players like iTunes.

Good Sound Card For Music

Coupled with the SHOUTcast DSP plugin, you can take your shows online. Broadcast your curated playlists to your radio station, even hook up a microphone to talk live to your listeners. Winamp is a good audio streaming software solution if you want something tried and tested.

  • Download Winamp
  • Download SHOUTcast DSP
  • Setup Winamp

9. Nicecast - An Easy Encoder that Works with iTunes

Nicecast is a simple broadcasting encoder for Mac. It’s ideal for DJs and radio hosts as it’s easy to use with a minimalist interface and has some essential features like being able to talk over live shows, which is perfect for announcement segues between tracks.

Programs like iTunes can be connected so you can manage your back catalogue of music whilst Nicecast encodes and streams your shows out to your radio station online. Initially free for 60 minutes, Nicecast is a paid software broadcaster so you need a license to use it.

  • Download Nicecast
  • Setup Nicecast

8. SAM Broadcaster Pro - Rock Solid Media Management

SAM Broadcaster Pro is a well known and advanced piece of broadcasting software. It has a media management system, virtual mixing decks, relays, statistics, and much more useful features.

Controlling your shows are the cornerstone of SAM Broadcaster. Get access to multiple mixing decks and control and synchronise your audio with ease. Mix shows together with faders, EQ sliders, and improve your vocals with an FX voice feature to alter how you sound.

SAM Broadcaster comes with a commercial license, meaning you have to pay to unlock the full version, however you can get a free trial to see if it’s right for you.

  • Download SAM Broadcaster
  • Setup SAM Broadcaster

7. Traktor - A DJ's Delight

Traktor is from leading innovator Native Instruments in the music industry for hardware and software. Designed for both DJs and broadcasters like Pete Tong and Richie Hawtin, it’s ideal for managing your station’s media and mixing shows together due to its easy hardware integration.

Hook up an industry-leading Traktor DJ controller to seamlessly manage your shows for professional DJ mixes. Have up to 4 decks at any one time to pre-load tracks, sync to the master track, and manipulate your station’s sound the way you want.

Get Traktor DJ for both Windows and Mac with a 30-minute trial to see if it’s right for your radio shows.

  • Download Traktor
  • Setup Traktor

6. AltaCast - Simple Windows Encoder

What Is A Good Sound Card To Use With Mixxx

AltaCast, formerly known as Edcast, is a free Windows encoder for live broadcasts to your online station. Radio broadcasters and professional DJs looking for a simple solution will feel right at home with AltaCast. It’s a very simple in terms of design and the features that come with it - For example it’s main function is to grab your sound card's audio, like a microphone’s input, and broadcast to your station.

Like every free piece of software AltaCast requires a little bit of work to get setup. You need the C++ 2010 runtime and the latest Lame_enc.dll file for MP3 support. Download them both along with AltaCast to setup your audio streaming software.

  • Download AltaCast
  • Download C++ 2010 runtime
  • Download Lame_enc.dll
  • Setup AltaCast

5. RadioDJ - Advanced Radio Show Management for Broadcasters

RadioDJ is free automation software for Windows. It has essential features for broadcasters that make it easier to manage shows like automated playlist generation for tracks which get sorted based on playback. Update track information by using an ID3 tag editor, so you can change titles, artists, and album names so they’re correct. RadioDJ also hooks up easily with AltaCast, which easily connects to your Radio.co account and broadcasts your shows online.

Manage track by customising them with sound processing and adjust when a track starts and ends with a cue points editor. Both can be used to edit the levels of your tracks and even trim them down, for example, you can fade in and out tracks for smoother transitions.

The only downside is RadioDJ can be a bit tricky on initial setup. It requires a database to manage media and an encoder to broadcast live, however, we’ve put together an easy step by step guide on how to get started below.

  • Download RadioDJ
  • Download MySQL
  • Download AltaCast
  • Download LAME MP3
  • Setup RadioDJ

4. Serato DJ - World Renowned DJ Software

Serato DJ is best known as top quality DJ mixing desk software that is highly regarded by well-known professional DJs like Mix Master Mike, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Steve Aoki.

Available for both Windows and Mac, Serato DJ integrates with popular mixing desks like Allen & Heath, Pioneer, and a bunch more hardware. Known for it’s simplicity and praise received within the DJ community as “the best of the best” as it has both basic and advanced tools for DJs at varying skill levels. It comes with virtual decks, remote management control from your mobile device, and hardware mixing desk mapping for hardware integration.

Serato DJ isn’t free, but offers a free trial with access to the full suite.

  • Download Serato DJ
  • Setup Serato DJ

3. Virtual DJ Pro - Professional Mixes Without Expensive Hardware

Virtual DJ Pro is an audio mixing software solution for DJs and radio broadcasters alike. Available for Windows and Mac, it comes with old school style vinyl and CD based mixing desks for beat mixing and media management cueing.

The idea behind Virtual DJ is that absolutely anyone can start mixing tracks together without the need for loads of expensive equipment, instead giving you everything you need to make awesome sounding mixes just like professional DJs.

  • Download Virtual DJ
  • Setup Virtual DJ

2. Mixxx - Technical Mixer for Radio Experts

Good Sound Card For Recording

Mixxx is advanced open-source DJ software. It’s completely free and works with Windows, Mac, and Linux systems like Ubuntu.

It’s ideal if you handle quite a lot of tracks and recorded shows as it comes with an advanced library management system. Use it to update your track’s info like titles, artists, and albums using a built-in ID3 tag editor. When broadcasting from Mixxx your track’s details get shown to listeners via the player, so it comes in handy as everyone can see what you’re playing.

Mixxx is great for beat syncing tracks with up to 4 decks. Invite guests on board by adding several microphones at once and easily map external mixing decks with MIDI controllers. If you broadcast live shows often then you can repeat them by recording in Mixxx and adding them to your library.

  • Download Mixxx
  • Download LAME MP3 Encoder
  • Setup Mixxx

1. BUTT - Free & Easy to Use Encoder Available on All Platforms

BUTT is by far the easiest tool to broadcast live to your online radio station. Free and easy to use, it offers a simple way to get online no matter if you’re on Windows, Mac, or Linux systems.

BUTT comes with a built in encoder, which means you don’t need additional software or a plugin to connect to your station. Broadcast using external equipment like microphones, mixers, and even pre-built mics. However it only handles live feeds like talking into a mic or through your computer’s sound card, so you can’t play audio from a media player unless you using Soundflower (Mac) or Stereo Mix (Windows) to broadcast all your computer’s audio.

  • Download BUTT
  • Setup BUTT
Recording

Which is the Best Audio Streaming Software?

Now have your say! Which one do you think is the best audio streaming software? Let us know in the comments. Whichever audio streaming software you prefer, it’s essential you have a reliable radio platform to broadcast your shows too.

Radio.co is the best all-in-one platform that works with all software listed above. Broadcast your shows live to your radio station or automate them into playlists for when you’re not around. Everything is in the cloud, so you can turn your computer off and let Radio.co do all the hard work ,this way your listeners will always be able to tune into your shows without having to worry about downtime.

Try it for yourself today! Get started by clicking the button below to begin your 7 day free trial - Alternatively, talk to us here.

I'm trying to use Mixxx not in a club environment, but rather to do simple djing over the net. I'm using the airtime skin and have two soundcards and a hardware analogue mixer along with a Windows 10 desktop pc. Streaming isn't an issue, but rather getting both mic and music fed to the shoutcast server. The Mixxx master output is set to my Sound Blaster usb card, channels 1 and 2, and the speaker output goes from the usb card to aux in on one of the mixer pots. Another pot on the mixer takes a line level input from a mic preamp. The mixer output goes to the line in of a Asus xonar internal sound card. No settings have been done on the input side of Mixxx. If I chose Auxillary 1 and set it to xonar stereo mix, obviously I get feedback. In the windows sound settings, the xonar is set as the default playback device and on the record side, xonar stereo mix. I'm betting the solution is simple, but I'm stuck.

Newegg


Thanks